Upon a Dying Skyscraper, We Dance
by slr2moons
Summary: Ferid meets his co-conspirator for the promised delivery of information, but first he decides to have some fun at his partner's expense. Because with millennia of years behind and before him, what is left to do for a vampire's amusement but mess with people? GenEx '17


_**Upon a Dying Skyscraper, We Dance  
** by slr2moons_

.o0o.

A/N: This fic is based on manga canon, and is set at the end of volume 4/chapter 15. I've expanded the final scene for my own devious devices, and dared to guess whom exactly Ferid is addressing in this scene. The fic also contains references to the first Guren prequel novel, but you don't need to have read it to follow what happens here. Special thanks to my lovely beta, Star-chan! And to be completely clear, this story is a work of fanfiction and has nothing to do with the original or any licensed version of this manga in any way. It's just for fun! C:

Written for Filigranka in the GenEx 2017 exchange. 

.oOo.

Ferid Bathory, ancient vampire and manipulator extraordinaire, raised his arms wide in appreciation of the devastated landscape before him. The former sky scrapers now leaned and lurched, half-buried in the sand dunes and debris that had swept through the area. All of the city's former human occupants had suffered similar tragic fates. They had died in the cataclysm itself, had withered away from starvation and disease afterward, or had been rounded up for their own protection by the kindly vampires. Personally, Ferid favored the latter option. No reason to waste good livestock, and variety of flavor was always appreciated by a blood gourmet such as himself.

Eight years ago, the humans who had once controlled the Earth brought the Apocalypse upon themselves and fell to their own greed and insatiable desire for power. Now, the majority of surviving humans were wisely tended as the food supply of vampire-kind. To do so, vampires had come out of hiding to rise up and take control of the Earth...and their newfound power and arrogance blinded them to their own coming downfall at the hands of those scattered humans who had remained free or managed to escape.

It was _gloriously_ ironic.

Ferid took a deep breath of the night air as the wind blew around him, sending his long white hair and extravagant clothes fluttering. He reached up to tighten the satin ribbon that secured his luxurious hair into a ponytail. Presentation was important in his grand machinations, after all. Along with planning and the strategic use of valuable resources, of course. Ferid could not accomplish everything he wanted to do on his own. Bending others to his will was not only necessary, it was simply so much fun! Particularly when they knew exactly what he was doing, hated it, and had to follow his plans anyway.

The slightest scuff of a distant boot upon rough cement reached Ferid's sharp vampire ears, and he smiled. One of his valuable resources, in the flesh, on the way to pick up the information that the vampire researchers had compiled after that eventful battle against the free humans' army in Shinjuku a week earlier.

Ferid waited a few moments for the other person to join him, then announced with a laugh, "Everything is going perfectly!" He looked over his shoulder, down the sloped roof of the dying skyscraper that he had chosen to perch upon. "Wouldn't you agree, my amusing partner in crime?"

The new arrival remained silent.

Turning, Ferid slowly prowled towards his guest, swinging his hips and catching a stray lock of hair that danced across his face in the wind. "Who is my visitor this time? Is it the human, or the demon inside? Hmm?" He waved the errant strands of silver hair in greeting. "Do tell!"

Flat, dark eyes stared at him from a stern and unsmiling face.

Ferid grinned and called out with delight, "Ah, 'tis the human, Guren-chan! So glad you could make it to our meeting tonight!"

A muscle in Ichinose Guren's cheek twitched. "Don't call me 'chan'. Do you have the information?" he said, voice hard and strictly business.

Ferid stopped in front of Guren and studied him with hooded eyes. The stiff and unwelcoming posture, the hilt of his still-sheathed Japanese sword tightly gripped in his off hand, the scowl hovering beneath an artificially stoic face. It seemed the human was in a _mood!_ This was simply too great a chance to let pass by.

"No 'chan'?!" Ferid paused to theatrically prop his chin upon his fist, in thought. "Then that means you want me to just use your name alone! _How intimate!"_ He sidled up to the man and leaned in to whisper, "Guren..." in his ear.

He leaped away from Guren's drawn sword with a laugh and time to spare and twirled about. "Always so grouchy, _Guren."_ He began to circle, a bounce in his step. Tonight was just getting better and better!

"Do you have the information?" Guren repeated, pivoting to keep Ferid at sword point.

"More importantly..." Ferid trailed off and deliberately gave Guren a thorough once-over, from head to foot and back again. He sighed in disappointment. "A gray jacket over black sweatpants and a t-shirt? Really, Guren? How completely blasé."

Guren actually lowered his sword a fraction of an inch. "What?"

"The only piece you're wearing from your lovely military uniform are the boots." Ferid pointed at Guren's feet with one perfectly buffed fingernail, because obviously the human needed some basic information about choice of dress. "It's all about _presentation,_ Guren. The clothes make the vampire." He flared out his short white cape and the elegant skirts of his great coat. "Or the demon-possessed human, in your case," he amended helpfully. "Presentation is important for intimidation and the power of our presence!"

Guren's opinion of that was almost palpable. "I am not here to talk about clothes. Do you have the information?" he demanded through gritted teeth.

"But we _must_ talk about it! We're partners in this scheme, we both need to look the part of dashing, awe-inspiring conspiracy leaders." Ferid turned and dramatically strode away from Guren, then pivoted and strode back, artfully flinging his hair over his shoulder and into the obliging wind. "You remember our first meeting, yes? In the Ueno Zoo?"

After several heavy seconds, Guren said, "Vaguely."

"Oh, rubbish! I know you remember perfectly, even from eight years ago! After all, I was wearing something similar then. How could anyone who survived meeting me possibly _ever_ forget me?" Ferid smiled at Guren, one finger tapping his cheek.

"I remember an asshole vampire noble with an insulting and arrogant attitude who tried to kill me while wearing way too many frills."

Ferid clapped once in triumph. "There! You see?! The right fashion makes all the difference!" Ferid beamed at him. Tormenting people with only _words_ was so much fun. Besides, Guren's growing irritation was completely hilarious. An eyebrow was twitching sporadically, his breathing and heart rate had increased, and Ferid fancied that he could even hear the bones in Guren's hand creak around the hilt of that samurai sword.

 _"Do you have the information?"_

"You know, it's a shame we couldn't have met when you were little. It's so much easier to train you humans when I have an early start. Your blood in exchange for my valuable fashion advice." Ferid dared to invade Guren's personal space again, grabbing his sword arm with one hand to yank Guren close, catching him completely by surprise and bumping their noses together.

"I bet you were an adorable child." He grinned, fangs sharp and beautiful in the moonlight.

Guren threw him off with a furious heave, and Ferid let himself fly backwards. He landed even more elegantly than the lost gymnasts of old and laughed with delight.

His breathing heavy now, Guren visibly fought down anger. He closed his eyes and slowly straightened, sheathing his sword with one fluid movement to stand with hands relaxed at his side. He calmly met Ferid's gaze, finally accepting the inevitability of the conversation.

"When I was a kid, I was focused on training and gaining strength," he said evenly. "I would have had no interest in a creepy old man or his ridiculous clothes."

Ferid's smile sharpened. "Oh, but I _am_ old. Older than child-you could have ever dreamed." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "What if I'd shown you my own glorious vampire strength? Would that have piqued your interest? A Seventh Progenitor is nothing to brush aside." Ferid fluffed the ruffles of his French courtier shirt collar with pride. It had been sewn by his humans based on an authentic seventeenth century garment, which had been liberated from a stuffy human museum years ago.

Guren raised one eyebrow and considered the question for a moment. "Maybe."

Ferid lit up as brightly as the deadly sun. He squealed with glee and ran to Guren, arms outstretched for a big and bitey hug. But Guren stopped the vampire short with one arm, the heel of his hand almost impacting Ferid's perfect nose. Ferid stared at the hand, then uncrossed his eyes to raise them to Guren's face.

This time, Guren was the one to smile. "But even child-me would never have been able to stand your irritating personality."

"Awww! That hurts my feelings," Ferid pouted and backed up a step.

Guren snorted. "We have to work together, not like each other." He dropped his arm. "Now. Do you have the information?"

Ferid crossed his arms, still sulking. "Now I really want a hug."

The twitch in Guren's cheek returned. "Information. _Now."_

Making a show of it, Ferid grudgingly reached into the interior breast pocket of his great coat and pulled out a double DVD case. "As if you ever doubted me," he said with a wry smile and one lifted eyebrow.

Guren gave him a hard glare, took the case, stuffed it deep into a pocket of his jacket, and finally graced Ferid with the tiniest nod of thanks. He pivoted about and took two steps before leaping to the ground in a respectable—for a possessed human—twenty yard bound. He ran off in an easy stride for the nearest remaining road, the hood of his jacket flapping in the wind behind him like a vestigial cape.

Pathetic.

"Ah, Guren..." Ferid sighed, hands on his hips, and watched the human streak away. "You know I can't let you run off without taking a little something back for myself."

Ferid shot after Guren, effortlessly killing the space between them with the magnificent speed and power that was vampire's due, and slammed Guren face-first into the ground. Ferid snatched up both of Guren's arms and twisted them behind his back, holding them in place with one hand and grabbing a handful of Guren's hair in the other. He considerately lifted Guren's face up out of the sand. Ferid truly was kind to his favorite humans, when he felt like it.

Guren struggled to breathe again after the force of the impact, and glared up at Ferid with one incensed eye, even as he struggled and bucked to free himself. _"You asshole! Let me go!"_

Ferid gave Guren a pointed grin and said, "Oh, I will. But first..." He trailed off the words to sink his fangs into Guren's hot neck. He took one long drink, swallowed, licked the wound closed, and whispered into Guren's ear, "Do invite Mahiru to join us next time." The words left behind a scattered field of tiny rubies, shining darkly against white skin in the night.

An organic pattern of black tattoos blossomed across Guren's furious face, and his eyes shifted to burning violet.

Ferid launched himself off Guren's back, driving the human several inches more into the sand, and sprinted away. He laughed with sheer joy. Mid-bound, he twisted in the air to wave goodbye at the fruitlessly pursuing and screaming human before speeding onward. Really, it was incredibly easy to wind up Guren. The man really was so much _fun_ to torment!

He fled the drowning city as a silver streak through the night, pursued by a black shadow with glowing violet eyes who fell farther and farther behind. Ferid pulled out a finely embroidered linen handkerchief and delicately wiped Guren's blood from his lips. He made a face at the memory of the dull adult blood, so flat and tasteless in comparison to the delectable and fragrant blood of children. But still, _taste_ hadn't been the point of that bite at all. His amused expression returned, this time with a touch of fondness. Not for Guren the actual possessed man, but for the chance to mess with Guren's tremulous line of sanity.

He took a deep breath of the dry night air once more, simply for the sensation of breathing. The infinite life of a vampire could be boring and mind-numbing, but never for Ferid. Not with so many lovely people in the world to torment! Humans, vampires, his honored Progenitor elders, and the human livestock who were his daily drink. All of them were toys, lovely living pawns who filled Ferid's endless days with entertainment. And Guren, in particular, was incredibly fun to mess with.

"His hair next time, I think," he informed the wind streaming around him. "Something must be done about that inelegant mop!" Happily fantasizing about that upcoming confrontation, Ferid vanished with a laugh into the night. 

.oOo.

fic completed 8-28-17, last tweaked 9-26-17

A/N: Ferid has been my favorite character since I first read chapter one of _Seraph_. He's so flamboyant and unpredictable and a true wild card in the series! Not to mention being easy on the eyes. (Now if only he weren't such a creeper...) It was incredibly fun to write from his twisted and self-obsessed point of view, so different from my usual stories. You know, the ones featuring decent, _sane_ people. ^^;

I took a chance by naming Guren as Ferid's partner in crime. I do believe he's the most likely option—based on canon so far! It will be most interesting to see if I am right, or if my fic ends up gloriously jossed by Kagami-sensei, who is the writer and conductor of this convoluted story. We'll find out eventually, I'm sure! Jossed or not, please do enjoy this little what-if fic and peek into Ferid's twisted personality. I know I enjoyed writing it! :D


End file.
